Over nine hundred passengers escaped death yesterday morning when a 10-coach Iddo bound train rammed into a trailer truck at Ilupeju Railway crossing near Oshodi, Lagos.
Also two Toyota Hiace buses travelling in opposite directions along
Potiskum-Kano road in the state, had a head-on collision and thereafter
went off in flames. 29 persons died,11 of them burnt beyond recognition.
The accident which occurred at about 7:30 a.m. led to traffic gridlock along the Ilupeju/Oshodi road for several hours.
Saturday Vanguard gathered that each of the coaches has 90 seats, but they were usually overloaded.
An eye witness said that the articulated vehicle blocked the railway crossing when the train was already close by.
The loaded trailer had crashed into the double barriers on the railway crossing shortly before the train arrived.
On seeing the approaching train, the driver jumped out of the trailer
and ran away. The train then dragged the truck for some distance,
scattering the goods inside it — which were mostly empty cartons of
Malta Guinness drink along the track.
The dragging of the truck also led to the damaging of some vehicles parked along the rail track by motor mechanics.
We gathered that the accident caused some damage to the engine of the locomotive and the track.
Confirming the accident, Mr Ademuyiwa Adekanbi, the Lagos District
Public Relations Officer of the Railways, said that no life was lost in
the incident.
Adekanbi said that the corporation has embarked on enough enlightenment campaigns on the use of the Railway Crossings.
“We have done enough jingles on radio and television, we have rallies
and distributed fliers to sensitise people of the right of way of a
train at level crossings,” he said.
The incident makes it the third time in August that passenger trains
have rammed into vehicles at railway crossings in the Lagos metropolis.
29 burnt to death, several others injured in Yobe auto crash
Two buses collided head-on and burst into flames in Yobe State yesterday, killing at least 29 people, police said.
Also Saturday Vanguard gathered that two Toyota Hiace buses
travelling in opposite directions along Potiskum-Kano road in the state,
had a head-on collision and thereafter went off in flames. 29 persons
died,11 of them burnt beyond recognition.
Police spokesman Frank Mba confirmed the incident adding that that 16 others were also injured.
He said the accident happened at 1:00 pm, adding that the injured were taken to a hospital in the nearby city of Potiskum.
The State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission,
FRSC, Malam Shehu Umar, attributed the accident to reckless driving and
over-speeding, adding: “accidents on this road are mostly associated
with reckless driving and over-speeding.”
Although the commission was yet to identify the victims, Umar said
that one of the vehicles belonged to Borno Express Bus Service.
“We are yet to determine the destination of the vehicles that is,
where they took off from and where they were heading to because. We are
still concentrating efforts to deposit the corps at the General
Hospital, Potiskum,” Umar stated.
